Automatic welding-machine.



W. L. CALLAHAN 6!]. W. RAYNOR.

AUTOMATIC WELDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 10, 1913- RENEWED MAY 5.1917- 1,262,749. PatentedApr. 16. 1918.

W. L. CALLAHAN & J. W. RAYNOR.

AUTOMATIC WELDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 00110, I9I3. RENEWED MAY 5.1917.

1262749. Patented Apr.16. 1918.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

a I* Q N Qwm W y QW/k/I/ wuentow AME V w. L. CALLAHAN & I. w. RAYNOH.

AUTOMATIC WELDING MACHINE. [APPLICATION FILED 00T- 10, I913- RENEWED'MAY 5.1917.

1 ,262,749. Patented 'Apr. 16. 1918.

5 SHEETS-SHEEI 3.

W. L. CALLAHAN & J. W. RAYNOR.

AUTOMATIC WELDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 00110.1913. RENEWED MAY 5.1911.

' 1,262,749. Patented Apr. 16, 1918.

5 SHEETS-SHEEI 4.

W. L. CALLAHAN & l. W. RAYNOR.

AUTOMATIC WELDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED on. Io, I9Ia. RENEWED MAY 5. I917.

Patented Apr. 16. 1918;

. UNITED STATES [PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM L. CALLAHAN, 0F GARWOOD, AND JOSEPH W. RAYNOR, OF PL'AINFIELI),NEW

JERSEY, ASSIGNORS TO C. C. ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPO-BATION OF NEW JERSEY.

AUTOMATIC WELDING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 16, 1918.,

Application filed October 10, 1913, Serial Nor 794,361. Renewed May 5,1917. Serial No. 166,766.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that we, WILLIAM L. GALLA- HAN, of Garwood, Union county,New Jersey, and JOSEPH W. RAYNOR, of Plainfield,

Union county, New Jersey, citizens of the United States of America, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic"Welding-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an automatic welding machine and the object ofthe invention is to provide a machine for automatically welding articlestogether by means of an electric are drawn between a metallic electrodeand the articles to be Welded. Many of the features of this inventionare, however, also applicable to a machine for automatically Welding bymeans of an are drawn between the articles to be welded and a carbonelectrode, and may be found equally valuable and applicable to othertypes of welding machines.-

The art of electric arc welding as at present practised consists inmanually operating the movable electrode to draw the are and move itover the joint to be welded and while skilled operators are able toobtain good results, yet it is very difficult, if not impossible, toweld successfully in cases where the joints to be Welded are very long,

or where the conditions under which the work is done are such as tocause the opera-' tor to tire quickly so that the welding operation'becomes intermittent and irregular instead of continuous, or where thework to be done is of such a nature that the cost of manual labor isprohibitive.

It is well known that a perfect weld should be continuous and notintermittent because at the moment of drawing the arc the metalelectrode sticks to the work when first making contact. This stickingcauses a rather imperfect Weld, the process being that of butt orincandescent welding with not enough current to generate sufficientheat. Only when the arc is drawn, after considerable efiort at times, isenough heat generated to heat both of the articles to be welded and -tofuse the metallic electrode. Consequently every start after the arc hasbroken is not as perfect in the weld as it should be and experiencedwelders work into the joint from To this end the invention is embodiedin a suitable machine structure having means for supporting the articlesto be welded, and means for supporting a metallic electrode in properposition to weld. The machine is further designed to either move theelectrode along the joint to be welded or to move the articles to bewelded while the electrode is stationary. Means are also providedwhereby a continuous metallic electrode is fed automatically to the arcto avoid breaking the latter. Means are provided for drawing the arcautomaticlly at the beginning of the operation and means are providedwhereby the machine automatically ceases to operate when the arc breaks.Other means or elements necessary to the performance of arc weiding byautomatic machinery will appear as this specification proceeds whilereference is had to the accompanying drawings illustrating theinvention. it should be understood, however, that the drawing the areautomatically at the beginciples of machinery for. automatic are weldingand in no wise as representing the only embodiments of the invention, Inthe drawings- Figure 1 is a side view of an automatic welding machineembodying the invention with certain parts and details omitted.

lfig. 2 is a plan view of the frame of the machine including somedetails of the drivtion.

F ig. 6 is a mechanism.

Fig. 7 is a detail view .of a make and break device illustrated in Fi 5but shows the plan view of the are drawing parts in a differentposition.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary diagram illustratin another type of make andbreak device. ig. 9 is a view showing a construction for supporting acylinder to be welded.

Fig. 10 is a front view of a machine in which the work is movedrelatively to the electrode, and

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary plan view of th machine illustrated in Fig. 10.

The articles to be welded may have almost any conceivable shape andconsequently the machine must be adapted to support different kinds ofwork. As illustrating two widely different kinds of work we haveillustrated the supporting means in the first four figures as adapted tosupport straight or fiat work such as plates and Fig. 9 shows a supportsuitable for round or cylindrical work. Besides these two instancesalmost any kind of a support may be used and will readily suggest itselfto a skilled mechanic. In the first instance two fiat plates 1 and 2 areto be welded together. They will hereinafter be called the work and arelaid on suitable work supporters 3 mounted on the main frame of themachine comprising the two carriage runways 4 and 5 provided with guides6, 6. The runways are supported on suitable pedestals 7 restin on thefloor. The work supporters are insufiited from the machine at 8, 8. Therunway 5 is provided with a rack 9 and the positive wire 10 of the arccircuit is suitably secured to a work supporter as shown in Fig. 3.

Upon the runways slides a carriage l1 rovidedwith flanges which fits theguides 6. he carriage supports a drum 12 of nonconducting material uponwhich is wound the metal electrode 13 of suitable material and crosssection and whereby a continuous supply of metallic electrode isassured. The electrode is fed to the work by means of feed. rolls 14supported on shafts 15 and guided in its travel by guide rolls 16, 16and 17, 17, the latter being 'ournaled on shafts 18, 18. The one feedroll 14 and the one guide roll 17 are carried in a movable bearing 19adjustable in the carriage by a screw shaft 20 operated by a handwheel21 thus allowing for different sizes of metallic electrode. The negativewire 22 of the arc circuit is secured to the one shaft 15 as shown inFig. 3.

The feed roll shafts 15 carry worm gears '30; which are driven by worms23 on the transverse shaft 24 mounted in the carriage the aforesaid rack9 on runway 5. When the carriage is moved the gear 29 rolls on the rack9 and thus imparts motion to the gear 28.

The rotating speed of friction roller 25 may be adjusted to change thespeed at which the feed rolls are driven from the shaft 24 and to thisend the roller 25 may be moved radially on the disk 26 by the bifurcatedblock 31 which latter is adjusted by thescrew shaft 32 operated by ahandwheel 33. The roller 25 is splined to the shaft 24 so that when thescrew shaft 32 is rotated either left or right the friction roller willbe moved away from or toward the center of the driving disk 26.Conseqnently the speed of the roller and that of t e shaft 24 is variedand with that the speed of the feed rolls 14. As will be seen from thedrawings the speed adjusting means are carried by the bracket 47 on thecarriage 11. I

In order to kee the work in alinement under the electro e there isprovided two work positioning rolls 35, 35 adjustably mounted on thecarriage in brackets 36, 36. The rolls are insulated from the bracketsas shown at 46. 37 is a spreader adjustably mounted on-a crossbar 38 bymeans of a set screw 39 and insulated from the crossbar at 40. It servesto keep the plates apart a proper distance to insure good weldin If thework requires no spreader it may removed quickly by loosening the setscrew 39. The crossbar 38 is mounted on the carriage.

After the weld has been made it is desirable to smooth it down. To thisend there is provided a follower or smoothing roll 41, see Figs. 5 and6, mounted in a bracket 42 on the carriage. The roll 41 is insulatedfrom the carriage as at 43' and may be ad- 'usted to suit the height ofthe work by olts 44 assing through slots in the carriage. T e rolls 35are similarly adjustable by bolts 45 passing through slots, see Fig. 3.

From the foregoing it will be observed that the carriage 11 carries theelectrode,

the means for operating it, the positioning I Figs. 1, 2 and 4. 50represents a motor which rotates a bevel gear 51 which drives a bevelgear. 52 on the vertical shaft 53. The latter is supported in a bracket54' and carries a friction disk 55 which drives a friction roller 56splined to a shaft 57. The latter carries worms 58, 58.whi'ch drivesworm wheels 59, 59 on the carriage driving shafts 60, 60. The wo'rmwheels are shown dotted in Fi 1. 61, 61 represents split nuts in threeed engagement" with the shafts 60. Thenuts are carried on slides 62 inbrackets 63 secured to the carriage. By rotating the handles 64 on thecam disks 65 the nuts are brought into or out of mesh with the screwshafts 60 in a well known manner. The shafts 60 pass freely through thecarriage 11 but when the nuts are brought into engagement with theshafts and the latter are rotated the carriage is moved on the runway asis obvious. 66 are stops adjustably secured to the runways 4 and 5 bybolts 67. When the carriage is moved to the right in Fig. 1, that is tothe rear, and the handles 64 abut the stops 66 the nuts 61 areautomatically released from the screw shafts 60., whereby the carriageis automaticall stopped in.position to start the weld. T e screw shafts60 are reversed to run the carriage back by simply shifting frictionroll 56'to the other side of the machine as is obvious.

The friction roll 56 may be moved by hand to adjust the speed of theshafts 66 and the speed of the carriage and also to reverse the latter,or a mechanism such as shown in Fig. 3 for shifting friction roll 25 maybe employed.

The are may be drawn automatically when the machine commences tooperate; lln the present instance it is done by inserting a carbonpencil momentarily between the end of the electrode and the work. Adevice for performing this function is shown in Figs.

5 and 6 in which 70 represents the carbon pencil secured in a holder 71provided with two arms 72 pivoted at 73 on a bracket 74 adjustablysecured to the carriage by bolts 75 passing through slots.7 6 shown onFig. 3 also. The holder is operated to swing the carbon pencil down todraw the arc and up.

again after the arc has been drawn. To this end there is provided ashaft 77 in the said bracket 74 and fast on said shaft is a center arm78 and two outside arms 79, 79 which latter engage the holder arms 72 toforce device 93 hereinafter explained, the core drops, the arms 79 moveup and the holder arms are automatically lifted bythe springs 82. Fig. 5shows the parts in positlon the moment the arc is drawn.

Referring further to Fig. 5 the reference numeral represents the startinrheostat having the handle. 86 and the hol ing magnet 87 in series withthe resistance 88. 89 is the one main line connectedto the rheo- -statand current passes to the motor 50 by Wire 90 and to the field 91 bywire 92. In order to energize the arc-solenoid 81 momentarily to drawthe are there is provided a make and break device 93 operated by aswitch solenoid 94 in the shunt 95 from wire 90. The solenoid 94 ismounted upon a box 96 in which there is pivoted at 97 two opposed switchblades each comprising a contact 98 and a non-conducting tail piece 99.The core of the solenoid 94 carries a bridge 100. Normally the .core is.down andthe switch blades are lying horizontally as shown dotted inFig. 7 in which osition they are held by spring fingers 101. is soon,however, as the current is put on by the rheostat handle being turnedover to connect with the resistance 88, the solenoid 9-1 is energizedand its core with the bridge 100 lifted which thus connects the contacts98 and turns the switch blades on their 97 to which the terminals of thecircuit 102, including a local source of electrical energy 103 and thesolenoid 81, are connected. lhe closing of the circuit 102 energizes thesolenoid 81 which operates the carbon pencil to draw the are asexplained. But a the bridge 100 continues its upward movement it turnsthe switch blades into vertical position as shown in Fig. 7 whereby thecircuit 102 is gain broken, the solenoid 81 is deenergized and thecarbon pencil is lifted after the arc has been drawn.

As illustrated, the solenoid 94: will remain energized as long as thecurrent is on in the shunt 95, 95, but itmay easily be made to shortcircuit itself if desired by any one skilled in the art. When, however,the solenoid 94 is deenergized, and its core drops, the bridge 100 willin its fall abut the non conducting tail pieces 99 and kick the switchblades back into their normal horizontal position where they will becaught by the springs 101. Thus it is apparent that only when thestarting rheostat is operated is the circuit 102 closed momentarily byWay of the shunt 95 and make and break device 93.

The diagram in Fig. 5 includes still another feature of the invention.When the current is turned on full to drive the motor 50 which in turndrives the shafts 60 to opcrate the carriage, the handle 86 is held bythe holding magnet 87 as usual. The mo- 7 ment the arc is drawn asolenoid 105 in the ivots are circuit 10, 22 is energized and remains sowhile the arc is made, 106 being the local source of electrical energyin the arc circuit. When the arc breaks the solenoid 105 is denergizedand a brid e 107 drops on the contacts 108 in the holding magnet circuit109 thereb short circuiting the holding magnet. Jhe handle 86 is pulledback by the operator or by opening the usual line switch not shown onoff-contact 110 and the motor 50 is cut out and the carriage 11 ceasesto travel.

From the foregoing all the elements of the invention will be understood.It will be seen that means are provided for supporting the Work andsupplying current I thereto. That a supply of metallic electrode isprovided which is fed continuously to the arc and at the same time ismoved along the joint to be'welded while current is supplied to theelectrode. Further, that means are provided for positioning the work andfinishing the weld by the follower. The mechanical features include theautomatic movement of the carriage in either direction and the automaticstopping thereof. The reverse movement of the carriage need notinfluence the electrode feed because the one feed roll can be moved awayfrom the electrode by operating the handwheel 21 in Fig. 3. The speed ofthe various elements may alSO be regulated to produce the best results.Immediately upon the starting of the machine the arc is drawnautomatically and when the arc break-s the machine is automaticallystopped. By these means and the features of the invention electric arcweldingmay be carried on rapidlyvon a large scale W1th but littleattendance by the operator.

If desired the make and-break device for drawing the are automaticallymay be placed on the starting rheostat in which case 1t may have theform shown in Fig. 8 in which the handle 86 carries a cam 115 whichoperates a lever 116 pivoted at 117 to make contact with a fixed contact118 to close the circuit 102' for the solenoid 81. When the handle isturned into running position the cam 115 has been turned so far to theleft that it is clear of the lever 116 which is then pulled away fromcontact 117 by a sprin 119 and the circuit 102 is again open as be ore.The return movement of handle 86 only serves to move the lever 116 stillfarther away from contact 118.

Fig. 9 illustrates a suitable support for a cylinder or tube to bewelded and to be used in place of the supports 3 referred to above. Thetube 120 is laid on a beak 12-1 with the joint u permost and in positionun der the electrodh. A removable transverse bar 122 supports the freeend of the beak and a stop 123 prevents displacement of the tube.

and is driven by worm wheel 129 and worm. I

. 130 on shaft 131 which is driven by a worm wheel 132 and worm 133 onthe shaft 134, which is a screw shaft in threaded engagement with one ormore nuts 135 on the work support 136 which is movable and slides ingrooves 137 on the frame of the machine. The shaft 131 is driven fromthe disk 155 and roller 156 by a worm wheel 138 mesh ing with a worm(not shown) on the shaft 139 which carries the roller 156 whichcorresponds to the roller 56 in Fig. 2.

Thus it is optional to use a movable or a stationary work supportingmeans, and a stationary or movable electrode.

It is obvious that the invention as illustrated and described issusceptible of many changes or variations in the construction andoperation of the various automatic submechanisms or other details and itis to be understood that nothing in the foregoing specification is to betaken as a limitation in the carrying out of the invention otherwisethan as required by the scope of the ap ended claims.

e claim:

1. In an automatic welding machine the welded, means for automaticallymoving said electrode along the joint of the articles to be welded andbetween which and said electrode an arc is adapted to be drawn and meansoperative upon the rupture of said are for automatically stopping themoving of the said electrode.

3. In an automatic welding machine the combination of means forsupporting the articles to be welded, a supply of electrode material, anarc welding circuit connected to the latter and the said articles andbetween which an arc is adapted to be drawn and means for continuouslyfeeding the said electrode material to the are to maintain the same.

1. In an automatic welding machine the combination of means forsupporting the articles to be welded, a supply of electrode material, anarc welding circuit connected to the latter and the said articles andbetween which an arc is adapted to be drawn and meansfor continuouslyand automati cally feedingthe said electrode material to the are tomaintain the same.

5. In an' automatic welding machine the combination .of means forsupporting the articles to be welded, a supply of electrode material, anarc weldin circuit connected to the latter and the said articles andbetween which an arc is adapted to be drawn, means for continuously andautomatically feeding the said electrode material to the are to maintainthe same, and means operative u on the rupture of the are forautomatical y stopping the feeding of the electrode material.

6. In an automatic welding machine the combination of means forsupporting the articles to be we1ded,'a supply of electrode material, awelding arc circuit connected to the latter and the said articles andbetween which an arc is adapted to be drawn, means for feeding electrodematerial continuously to the arc to maintain the latter, mechanism formoving the electrode along the joint of the articles to be welded whilethe arc is maintained and means operative upon the rupture of the arefor automatically stopping the feeding of the electrode material and themovement of the electrode along the said joint.

7. In an automatic welding machine the combination of an electrode, anarc welding circuit connected thereto and to the articles to be weldedand between which an arc is adapted to be drawn, mechanism for movingthe electrodealong the joint of the articles to be welded, an electriccircuit for operating said mechanism and means operative upon therupture of the are for automatically opening the said last namedcircuit.

8.. In an automatic welding machine the combination of an electrode, anarc welding circuit connected thereto and to the articles to be weldedand between which an arc is adapted to be drawn, mechanism for movingthe electrode along the joint of the articles to be welded, an electriccircuit for operating said mechanism, means operative upon the closingof the said last named circuit for drawing the arc, and means operativeupon the rupture of the arc forautomatically opening the said last namedcircuit.

9. In an automatic welding machine the combination of an electriccircuit comprising a source of electric energy and two relativelymovable terminals between which an arc is adapted to be drawn, means formoving one of the said terminals, an electric circuit included in saidmeans, mechanism operative upon the closing of said last named circuitfor drawing the are between the two named terminals, and means operativeupon 10. In an automatic welding machine the combination of an electriccircuit comprising a source of electric energy and two terminals betweenwhich an arc is adapted to be drawn, an electric circuit for operatingsaid machine and comprising a rheostat and a holding magnet and meansoperative upon the rupture of the are for short circuiting the holdingmagnet to open said last named electric circuit.

11. In an automatic welding machine the combination-of an electriccircuit comprising a source of electric energy and two termina1s betweenwhich an arc is adapted to operating said machine, a third electric circuit comprising a make and break device and an are drawing mechanism andelectrical connections between said make and break device and saidsecond circuit for momentarily operating said make and break device toclose said third circuit to operate the are drawing mechanism to drawthe arc and to open said third circuit immediately after the arc hasbeen made.

13. In an automatic welding machine the combination of a welding circuitcomprising a source of electric energy andtwo terminals between which anarc is adapted to be drawn, a first electric circuit for operating saidmachine and comprising a rheostat and a holding magnet, a secondelectric circuit comprising a make and break device and an are drawingmechanism, electrical connections between said make and break device andsaid first electric circuit for operating said device to momentarilyclose said second circuit to operate said are drawing mechanism to drawthe arc and means operative upon the rupture of the arc and included insaid welding circuit for short circuiting said holding magnet to opensaid first electric circuit.

14. In an automatic welding machine the combination of means forsupporting the articles to be welded, a movable carriage, a movablemetallic electrode supported thereon, means for moving said carriageover the said articles, means for continukee ing the articles to beWelded in place ously feeding the said electrode to the point on t esaid supporting means. Where the are is to be made between said Signedat Garwood, New Jersey, this 6th electrode and the said articles andWhile day of October, 1913.

' 5 the said carriage is moving, a spreader supported on the carriage tomove in advance of said electrode to space the articles apart, afollower supported on said carriage to Witnesses: move behind saidelectrode to smooth the E. WVAL'rmLJoHNsoN, 1o Welded joint andpositioning means for PETER F. HOFFMAN.

